Recent Progress in Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Activity of WO3 Photoanodes

Structural, Optical, Band Edge and Enhanced Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting Properties of Tin-Doped WO3

“…Figure 1 shows the high-and low-resolution SEM images of undoped and Sn-doped WO 3 thin films. The morphology of undoped WO 3 (Figure 1a,b) appeared to be a mixture of nanoparticles, and nanorod structure assembled on the FTO substrate.…”

“…A promising resolution to the global energy requirement of the future, along with the protection of environment, comes from the next generation and sustainable energy source hydrogen and its clean and carbon-free production via photoelectrochemical water splitting [1]. In photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting, a semiconductor is used to split water into H 2 and O 2 using abundant and sustainable resources, like sunlight and water [2,3]. The first successful demonstration of solar water splitting using TiO 2 semiconductor was reported by Fujishima and Honda [4], and has initiated significant research attention and contributions that have continued until now.…”

“…Since then, significant research contributions have been reported. It was found that WO 3 can absorb a maximum of~12% of the incident solar light with a band gap of 2.6-2.8 eV. Ideally, based on its light absorption capability, as high as~4.8% of solar energy to the hydrogen conversion efficiency could be…”

“…Importantly, the type and extent of modification induced in doped WO 3 mainly depend on the nature of dopant metal ion and its concentration [13,16,17]. Therefore, exploring a suitable dopant material for WO 3 is essential for obtaining high efficiency in PEC water splitting [3]. Until now, various dopants, including Ti [16], Co [18], Mo [17], Zn [19], Bi [13], Ni [18], Nb [20], Cu [18], Al [21], Ta [22], Fe [23-25], Te [26], and Ba [27], have been employed to alter the structural, optical, electrical, and band edge properties of WO 3 and to enhance its photocatalytic properties.…”

Reduced graphene oxide-intercalated graphene oxide nano-hybrid for enhanced photoelectrochemical water reduction

“…The realization of such energy storage technologies is limited by solar to hydrogen fuel conversion efficiency of the system, which mainly depends on the property of the material that captures light energy and also design and architecture of the device. Several metal oxide semiconductor materials, such as TiO 2 [2], Fe 2 O 3 [3], CuO [4,5], and WO 3 [6] have been studied for PEC H 2 fuel production from water. However, only few non-metallic oxide semiconductor materials are available for this purpose.…”